CQ/X de NO5W GPS-Enabled Software for Mobile Contesting

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Documentation

The following documents are included with the program and may be accessed from the program's Help menu or downloaded separately from the Downloads page as a means of performing a preliminary evaluation of the program and for obtaining far more details than can be presented on this website. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you will need in order to view these files, you can down load it from here

Tutorials - If you want to get a feel for how CQ/X works before downloading and installing the software you should check out a couple of tutorials created by Alan, N5NA.

Basic Operation - This tutorial takes you through the main features of the program when operated with a GPS and includes dynamic GPS data to illustrate automatic county detection. A reduced size version of this tutorial is available in case you need to view it on a small monitor.

Creating and Loading a Crossing File- This tutorial demostrates the creation of crossing files using both the Google Maps approach and the Bing Maps approach and demonstrates how to load the resulting crossing file into CQ/X.

What You Need - a document describing the hardware and software required to use the program under various scenarios: mobile, fixed, phone only, mixed mode, with and without a GPS, etc. This document should be reviewed prior to downloading the software since it will provide a good indication of preliminary work that might be required in order to use the software to its fullest capability for the planned scenario.

Exploring CQ/X- a document providing a set of about a dozen activities for experimenting with the program as a means of learning its capabilities. Activities include the following:

Exploring the Help Menu
Reviewing the User Interface
Defining a Set of Messages
Assigning Function Keys
Connecting and Using a Keyer
Making a QSO
Planning a Route for Non-GPS Operations
Building a Route for use with a GPS
Connecting and Using a GPS
Connecting and Using a Radio
Setting Up User-Supplied Help
Simulating a trip using GPS Playback
Using the Startup Wizard

Configuration Decisions - a brief document discussing the why and how of each of the main configuration decisions the user will need to make in setting up CQ/X for mobile operation in a QSO party.

QuickRefWithGPS - a brief "quick-start" document providing an annotated listing of the steps to perform before, during, and after the contest assuming that a GPS will be used.

QuickRefWithoutGPS - a brief "quick-start" document providing an annotated listing of the steps to perform before, during, and after the contest assuming that a GPS will not be used.

Setup and User Notes for Mobile Operators- a short document providing a description of the steps involved in setting up for a mobile operation including suggested key assignments and message definitions, and development and use of waypoints and crossings files.

TroubleNotes - a short list of trouble-shooting notes for those times when the program appears to be operating incorrectly or refuses to perform some function in the anticipated manner.

CQXClient - a compilation of the program's Help file into a user manual format.

Posting a Route on Google Maps - a description of the steps required to develop and post a route using the Google Maps engine.

Using Google Maps to Define a Route/Path - a description of the steps required to develop a turn-by-turn route using Google Maps for inclusion in a KML overlay for publishing on the web.

Developing a Crossing File Using Google Maps - a description of the steps required to develop crossing files using the Google Maps engine.

Showing County Activity Using Google Maps - a description of the steps required to show county activity on a Google Map.

Sample Presentation on TQP & CQ/X- sample slides for a presentation on the Texas QSO Party and CQ/X. This sample was given to the Texas DX Society in August, 2009 and is similar to presentations given to Brazos Valley ARC (BVARC), Northwest ARS (NARS), and Highland Lakes ARC (HLARC) during 2009.

Operating Concurrent QSO Parties- a brief document describing how to use CQ/X to operate multiple QSO parties scheduled on the same weekend. This document is also available from the Help menu.

Presentations
Several presentations are contained in the download of the base CQ/X package and may be accessed from the Help menu. Here is a recent presentation given at the 2011 BVARC Greater Houston Hamfest that is not included in the package. The presentation gives an overview of mobile contesting in general, some specifics about the Texas QSO party, and includes some description and an overview of CQ/X. The smaller file (about 2MB) is a PDF of the presentation without three auxiliary files containing two videos and a wav file. The larger file (about 40MB) contains the PDF as well as the videos and wave files.

Download pdf only (~2MB)
Download pdf, videos, and wav(~40MB)